Well much thought and conversation on the job topic. I spoke with my current manager/good friend. Told him we will work at our goals for two months and see what we can turn out ( two months so that my financing for the new home isn?t muddied with the job change) and reevaluate from there.

The construction job is open ended to start and close when I say. Joining his team only elevates his business and he is pleased to let me finish school, meet my family needs, I see a five year window of growth at a minimum here in Utah for the housing market, multiple sources feel the same. Depending on future growth of Utah (new California) has a great potential to surpass five years. My plan is a three year with school to finish my Manufacturing Engineering degree and decide to move MBA or stay construction or just presume the engineering from that point. I enjoy team/people management, I excel and processes and design, I thrive in a rotating environment and all three of these options provide that with the exception of HR and people not liking to be told pure blunt truth.

I am still curious what all of you guys do for work, more detailed than I work for a this and state at a computer.

I currently work for L-3 technology, I build mostly the antenna systems for UAV?s that go into the predator, U2, new U2 as we call it. I have worked on other systems that mount to Humvees and systems that mount to the top of these Hoover type planes Don likes so much. Person to person, person to FOB to ship com systems. We do a lot of military application stuff.

I'm a design engineer for John Deere Horicon works. In Horicon we design and build the X300, X500, X700 and X900 lawnmowers and the Gators. We also design the residential Zero turn units but production of those were moved to Greenville, TN a few years back. Specifically I own the design of the mower decks for the X300 and X500 product. If you have seen any of John Deere's recent "it's not how fast you mow, but how well you mow fast" commercials those decks are my design control.

I have my bachelor's in mechanical engineering with a minor in product design. I did do one summer internship with an automotive supplier in Michigan. It was a manufacturing engineering role in the plant where they turned and assembled front half shafts.

What does my day look like? It varies depending on the time of year and timing of whatever project I am working on. I have new design responsibilities as well as making sure the factory keeps running. Top priority is always taking care of any "fires" in the factory. My day can be completely turned on it's head if I get a call from the factory floor with an issue that they need design engineering help with.

When I'm at my desk I spend a lot of time on the computer working in CAD. There is also a lot of time spent communicating with the rest of the extended team. I probably work most closely with the warranty team.

I do a little bit of travel. There might be a couple trips to Florida during the winter to do some product testing. We have a test site down there that maintains an area of grass for us when we have no grass here in WI. Because I am the only mower deck engineer in my product lines group my new usually floats to the top of the list if there is a trip planned for Europe. That happens every 3-5 years probably.

My side gig is building bumpers for trucks. It started when I built one for my 03 Dmax about 7 or 8 years ago. On average I build about 1 a week. That averages out to around 5 hours of work give or take depending on the model.

Dave, I work for a very large company in the employer benefits business. I lead a team of 45 people who sell and service our customers and I also work to develop new products and strategies. I manage a P&L of about 2B in revenue and 100M in profit. I've been with this company about 15 years. My days are all over the map. 150 emails a day, several conference calls, a few in person meetings, lots of coaching with my team. Some travel for meetings and such. Lots of in person external meetings with customers and brokers who distribute our products. My college degree plan was electrical engineering but I stopped just short of finishing. After 28 years in my field I like to say I have a masters degree from the university of get your a$$ a job

« Last Edit: January 14, 2018, 06:36:59 AM by TexasRedNeck »

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Kids today don't know how easy they have it. When I was young, I had to walk 9 feet through shag carpet to change the TV channel.

I teach HS Art & Photography; less about teaching as of late and more about managing ill behavior and figuring out how to teach those who actually want to learn in the process. I spend my day shaking my head wondering why teachers are the only ones really held accountable. State of ILLinois saw fit to pass a law that SEVERELY limits suspensions and expulsions. Needless to say, I have learned to ignore much of what I used to turn over to Deans for disciplining them as they have their hands tied. So the essence of what I due is trying to perfect the concept of picking up a turd with bare hands without getting dirty! Manager of multiple people with multiple needs with many who don?t really want your product while trying to meet the needs and desires of those who really do; required to treat them all equally - some with special behavior issues MORE equally.

How well will shingles hold up in your area? Would metal or tile roofing hold up better? You can even get metal in a tile look or even metal 3 tab look...

Sprinklers, if using drip type for individual shrubs and trees, don't use the black plastic tubing as good old pvc has a much longer life. Have them install lots of conduit under the concrete flatwork for wiring and irrigation runs and mark/map the locations. I wish they would have used one size larger here at the winter place as I could only get 1/2" pipe through the conduit.

Well, for location of stuff, I am just a road worker so I just measured from a couple known points for each end and made a quick dirty not to scale drawing to have and hold forever. Same with the sewer cleanouts, and D box.

I would think some kind of metal roofing would well outlast the asphalt shingles. Biggest draw back is metal can be a bit slippery when wet if you have much of a slope to the roof.

Sprinkler....have the plumber provide a stub out from the 1 inch minimum water service line for connection of irrigation. If on metered water service, request a 1 inch or larger meter for good flow to the home and fewer sprinkler stations.

Depending on how far down the basement floor is, not sure conduit would be needed. Could be a lot of digging to get down to it.

Bob, The basement will be completely finished before move in @ 40 inches below grade. The soil in the area is pretty easy going. Thought is to hand trench a pipe under the basement slab and put in a piece of two of pipe from day the mechanical room to either side of the home (3 inch black pvc) for a gee wiz and one to the garage side.

Irrigation will be a secondary water here. I think they limit the size of inlet we are allowed to have. 1inch is probably the max. But I will ask and see if some bribery is possible. All of the water and sewer lines are actually marked on the curb with a stamp or a pressed in metal marker so those are fixed in place.

Jr, I would love to have a metal roof for 50 years but I am thinking more than I want to spend at the moment on the roof.

Yes this is one of the lots I looked at earlier, .50 achr with another .50 as a easement that no one will build on at one side of the line due to a watershed line that is abandoned but still usable by city if needs be the other side is a corner lot

It would be really convenient to have a bathroom right off the garage. I see a washer and dryer in the utility room, but it would be nice to have a utility sink there also. Unless you plan for a sink in the garage.

my house in el paso had extra wide front and patio doors along with an extra wide hall and extra wide door in to all the rooms....(may have been a handicapped person living there at one point)........if I ever have another house built, this is a non-negotiable topic!!!!

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Nate

Give me coffee for the things I can change and Bourbon for the things I cannot!

Agree with JR -- Garage door to the back, or a man-door at least. I see the one on the side, but that is a lot of extra walking. Maybe omit that door as it would be visible from the street and might attract the undesirables...

Definitely run a 4" ABS under the driveway slab for irrigation - heck, run two. Its cheap. As for under the garage slab... not sure what you'd use that for except maybe wiring/air hose?

Garage epoxy - use the pro stuff, not the rustoleum kit from Home Depot. Though, you probably have that factored into the price of the slab and will have the flatwork guys taking care of that, so hopefully they're using the pro stuff.

Irrigation -- Wifi controller. SOOOO nice to be able to turn on zones from your phone while you're out troubleshooting something.

Thats another thing -- structured wiring. Run everything to a central location/panel. Sounds like you have a mech room in the basement -- perfect place for that. When in doubt, run extra wires. The big thing coming out now is Mesh wifi -- maybe plan some strategic/hidden power outlets and cat5 runs so you can place multiple Wifi APs around the house for best coverage.

Christmas light plugs under the eaves connected back to dedicated circuits and timers (if you're into that sort of thing).

Agree with JR -- Garage door to the back, or a man-door at least. I see the one on the side, but that is a lot of extra walking. Maybe omit that door as it would be visible from the street and might attract the undesirables...

Definitely run a 4" ABS under the driveway slab for irrigation - heck, run two. Its cheap. As for under the garage slab... not sure what you'd use that for except maybe wiring/air hose?

Garage epoxy - use the pro stuff, not the rustoleum kit from Home Depot. Though, you probably have that factored into the price of the slab and will have the flatwork guys taking care of that, so hopefully they're using the pro stuff.

Irrigation -- Wifi controller. SOOOO nice to be able to turn on zones from your phone while you're out troubleshooting something.

Thats another thing -- structured wiring. Run everything to a central location/panel. Sounds like you have a mech room in the basement -- perfect place for that. When in doubt, run extra wires. The big thing coming out now is Mesh wifi -- maybe plan some strategic/hidden power outlets and cat5 runs so you can place multiple Wifi APs around the house for best coverage.

Christmas light plugs under the eaves connected back to dedicated circuits and timers (if you're into that sort of thing).

I?ll start here

No garage door out the back. Don?t care for the added access point to the house, the man door on the side will be omitted and not installed. One more door to be left unlocked

I used to be a ?pro? epoxy guy polished concrete for years and years.

I think I will add abs pipe all over and under the slab like suggested. By the House by the mailbox by the sidewalk under the RV pad and one in the garage probably.

Plan for cat six to be ran at least two spots in every room, with a home run of the mech room. Good friend has a business doing it and should run to exterior for a camera system, 6-8 on the house with two inside the main kitchen area and living room basement area.

And the boss insisted on her Christmas lights. They have built in lights now that you can change the color with your phone they are pretty awesome

the house I moved out of last year was a split level with a 3 car garage. there was no exterior door other than the main roller doors. I hear you on the omitting the extra door. a regular man door, out of side from the street view is a lot easier to break in through than the main rollers.

I have no walk out exterior door on my current three car garage. My last house had two separate walk out doors but the way the footprint to the house and garage was laid out I liked having both there in the country. Here in hippy land I?m grateful I have nothing but a overhead roller.

Dave, like others mentioned, I'd throw a small 4'x4'-ish toilet room in the back left corner of the garage (easy plumbing to laundry room), with a utility sink on the outside wall of that room, then throw the exterior door next to that. Then you can put a work bench in the rear-right corner or whatever. toolbox, air compressor, etc...

There is a sink next to that rear wall as the plans show. You could tap another drain into that easy as well as the water. A toilet might be a challenge as the others or are the far side of the house and it will need to be a 3 inch pipe for that. Heck a sink out there and a urinal would be a blessing when you are working on things.

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Retired LEO Lifetime NRA+ Outcast in Calif

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants"

The mud room and laundry image is misleading. I cheated it and didn?t pay the architect to draw the plan 100%. The elivation is out of wack. My garage will have 8 steps into the mud room and the front door. The space next to the mud room and garage will actually be about 5-6 feet taller than my garage floor and it will be cement (crawl space) storage if you will. So the urinal is doable the toilet in the garage I just don?t think is going to happen.

After we built our house, one thing I would have done different is run CAT6 along with the flood light wire to each corner of the house for future cameras. It?s all spray foamed and no way to get wires there now.

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Car or Truck-TruckRural or City-RuralEarly morning or late night-Early MorningHard work or Easy Work-Smart Work